Some interesting numbers from a CT poster made me rethink my opposition to all these cuts: “45% of APS workers in Canberra are executive level or above (see APSC statistical bulletin) earning a total package of between $115,257 and $343,532 (see APSC remuneration report)”.

The context of your data is quite misrepresentative. The numbers need to be presented in the context of the entire public service organisation for them to be properly understood. Their location is irrelevant. The EL1 and above category represents about 17% of the entire public service. This is a very reasonable number for any large organisation.

Some interesting numbers from a CT poster made me rethink my opposition to all these cuts: “45% of APS workers in Canberra are executive level or above (see APSC statistical bulletin) earning a total package of between $115,257 and $343,532 (see APSC remuneration report)”.

45% of people in the head office of [insert ASX 200 company name here] are executive level as well. Of course APS offices in Canberra are at EL level; this is the head office of the APS.

Some interesting numbers from a CT poster made me rethink my opposition to all these cuts: “45% of APS workers in Canberra are executive level or above (see APSC statistical bulletin) earning a total package of between $115,257 and $343,532 (see APSC remuneration report)”.

Yeah, SCREW these people, earning lots and being so senior! What have they done for me lately?!?

The EL1s and EL2s are some of the most valuable public servants. They’d design policy, add the most value, have such huge organisational and historical memories, anticipate problems… Without them, disasters are guaranteed. Demonising them because they earn $100K or $130K is bizarre, because unlike people in the private sector, EL1s and EL2s are actually contributing to the quality of society, in addition to paying significant amounts of income tax.

On the flip side, there are 30,000 EL1s and 14,000 EL2s, so you could make your $580m over four years by cutting 1,500 of them. That is about 3.5%. I’d guess that a bunch of the +50 year olds would take the package.

But pushing these guys out the airlock and not replacing them is a great way to destroy capacity. Where will the next completely predictable debacle occur next?

Probably where someone uses next two times in a sentence. Are you one of the fabled MVPSs? 🙂

The EL1s and EL2s are some of the most valuable public servants. They’d design policy, add the most value, have such huge organisational and historical memories, anticipate problems… Without them, disasters are guaranteed.

I would be the first the recognise how important public servants are to our country; the point was that this is very big money for a very big proportion of the APS and one understands why people in other states look on in disbelief. You are quite wrong to believe 1 in every 2 public servants in Canberra is designing policy and preventing national disasters.

No surprises that defence is exempt. The amount of waste in the civilian side of the defence department is staggering

The waste on the fighty side makes the civilian side look like chump change. Brian Toohey had an article in the AFR pointing out that the Collins class is heading towards a billion dollars a year to run (with the interesting titbit that HMAS Rankin has been in a shed in Adelaide since 2008). How about Seasprite or perhaps the F-35?

Some interesting numbers from a CT poster made me rethink my opposition to all these cuts: “45% of APS workers in Canberra are executive level or above (see APSC statistical bulletin) earning a total package of between $115,257 and $343,532 (see APSC remuneration report)”.

Yeah, SCREW these people, earning lots and being so senior! What have they done for me lately?!?

The EL1s and EL2s are some of the most valuable public servants. They’d design policy, add the most value, have such huge organisational and historical memories, anticipate problems… Without them, disasters are guaranteed. Demonising them because they earn $100K or $130K is bizarre, because unlike people in the private sector, EL1s and EL2s are actually contributing to the quality of society, in addition to paying significant amounts of income tax.

On the flip side, there are 30,000 EL1s and 14,000 EL2s, so you could make your $580m over four years by cutting 1,500 of them. That is about 3.5%. I’d guess that a bunch of the +50 year olds would take the package.

But pushing these guys out the airlock and not replacing them is a great way to destroy capacity. Where will the next completely predictable debacle occur next?

Shared services would take a lot longer than 4 years to get off the ground and actually start saving money. Have a look at the debacle in WA for an example of how things tend to go wrong when you underestimate the complexity involved.

Some interesting numbers from a CT poster made me rethink my opposition to all these cuts: “45% of APS workers in Canberra are executive level or above (see APSC statistical bulletin) earning a total package of between $115,257 and $343,532 (see APSC remuneration report)”.

Sounds like the Feds copying savings ideas from other jurisdictions – shared services (ACT and others?), re-profiling (NSW?). If most, or all, of these cuts came from the SES, that would be rather dramatic, but I doubt it – I think we will have to wait a little longer for anything quite that spectacular.

That comment leads me to think that they are going to implement shared services across departments, sharing payroll, HR, possibly accounts payable, etc. That would probably save a considerable sum – although there would be a fair chunk of pain in terms of both head count and acceptance of new services.

There is plenty of people at the EL1 & 2 levels that are used as a recruitment and rentention measure over the last decade when the labour market was tight. Equally, there are plenty of technical experts that hold those jobs as a means of competiting with the private sector. If these changes are done right, there is a chance that things will be ok.